Bay Smith is a main character. Once a guy, she was turned into a girl several years ago. She keeps this fact a secret, and only a handful of people know.
She's now a struggling actress whose roommate is actually her daughter from an alternate future timeline.

Discussion (29) ¬

A wise decision Bay. You can try to remember who you were and fantasize about who you might become but you can only be who you are right now. And that person is the only one you’ll find is the right to be at that moment. So make the best of it.

Best choice, with what was available, yes. She’ll probably still have some lingering regret, but she realizes she needs to move forward, and there’s no going back. Good for you, Bay.

I have to wonder, though, if this was what CD Rudd had planned originally, or if the arguments made by some of us (a lot by me) here in the comments area over the course of this plot arc have changed his opinion on how it should go.

I personally get the feeling that this has been CD’s plan all along. Consider that way back when Chapter 10 started (holy crap that was FIVE YEARS AGO), the cover was of Bay in a wedding dress, standing at the alter. Having the wedding not go through, after that tease of a cover, sounds unlikely. This isn’t a golden age comic book, after all.

You’ll notice, Robert, that today’s comic is #1088. The last comic of Chapter 9 was #600, meaning that Chapter 10 almost is (and might be by the time we go through the wedding and tie up the remaining loose ends) as long as Chapter 1-9 put together.

I was kind of annoyed that by the time I found the discussion on this, it had already been closed. I would have been a dissenting opinion on this matter.

For one I think the bit about the TG’d guy just accepting being a girl (or just staying a girl in general, whether given a choice or not) is a bit too typical, if you ask me (outside of stories where the transformations back and forth are short and frequent, like The Wotch or EGS, long-term TGs almost never get reversed). So I think I would’ve supported Bay at least attempting to be Brad again just for that reason.

Also, the argument she just used right now for staying Bay is based on Trav’s suggestion of a copy, but not Tom’s plan which would have meant the female Bay body’s new mind wouldn’t have known any different. So the entire concern of being upset about there being a separate Brad out there is irrelevant; the current Bay goes into the Brad body, and whatever is left (or the blank mind in the Brad body is swapped?) in the Bay body gets new memories and knows and cares about none of this.

The main thing being concerning is whether this is just a “memory” transfer or a literal “essence” transfer. You can copy files into another folder but the original files won’t have changed spots. And if you believe in the concept of a soul (I tend to view that as the “essence”, or the user that looks through the camera feed of the body), then if there isn’t a guaranteed transfer of the soul/essence into the new body, then yes it’s best not to do this…

But I’m not totally sure how it would work in this case. Not my universe to the decide the metaphysics on.

The main issue with this is Bay ISN’T Brad, and hasn’t been since Tom messed up her helix profile back after she first went in to try to get restored to Brad. Tom KILLED Brad, and did so the second he overwrote her helix with his “Dixie” template. If there had been a backup that Tom restored from at that point, no harm no foul. But instead he attempted to rebuild her from his own imperfect memory. And he got some things wrong. So what came out was CLOSE, but wasn’t Brad.

Bay has since spent 5 years maturing as a female. During which she has gotten pregnant, “had” a child (it’s complicated), built friendships, and fallen in love.

Was this a story where a guy had just gotten TGed a few months back, I’d agree with you. It’d be cool to see. But not in this case. Bay has lived 5 years of her life and had finally come to terms with being herself, and isn’t truly the original person…so becoming Brad now would be fitting a square peg in a round hole. It would leave “Brad” alienated, feeling wrong, and eventually alone. “He”‘d most likely lose all “his” current circle of friends due to the ackwardness, alienate “his” daughter, lose “his” fiance”, and wind up miserable. “He”‘d regret the choice within weeks, I’d bet. If this was real life? End result: suicide. Meanwhile, the “Bay” walking around may get a happy life. But she wouldn’t be bay. She’d be someone else with Bay’s face and nothing else that made her Bay. And knowing Tom , she’d most likely have a Dixie accent. HATE Tom.

You have a fair point, though that does in part again tie back to the concept of “essence”. I might have to reread things a bit, but I seem to recall the only major change after Tom’s rebuild was sexual orientation (which he just did mention would be “corrected” in this transfer). This story has lost me a couple times trying to figure certain bits out, so I might be missing something else. And of course you do have a strong point that he/she’d lose everything she’s gained in her current life, save maybe Heather, if she underwent the procedure.

In any case, it is pretty clear Tom is the overarching supervillain of this series. I think everyone can agree on that.

To be little more precise: What he did was that he mixed up Dixie and Brad, so Dixie went into the body and Brad got the (few) manual changes he wanted to do on Dixie. Then he reverted most of those manual changes but not all and switched who will go into the body.

@NotShuttingUp – Even if all that changed was sexual preferences, that still means that when Tom was done, what was there wasn’t 100% Brad. And I’m fairly sure that if he missed that one blatently obvious thing, he missed a dozen or so other more subtle things like favourite breakfast cereal. And after 5 years of working based on those altered perceptions and desires, and letting them mature and develop, Bay is less Brad than she was after Tom finished. She’s still not going to be happy in her male body again.

And there needs to be a modern version of the Nuremberg Trials that Tom needs to strand trial on for multiple ethics violations, torture, and murder. He is that evil.

@Ran-san: Those other minor changes have little to do with how much she’d enjoy being in a male body again though. The sexual attraction is the only gender-relevant one. Again, I think it’s more the aspect of how friends and family would react to the situation that is important in the decision.

He’s either evil or criminally incompetent. Definitely needs to be prosecuted, as do those two producer guys.

Berry is …. she’s someone who lives in the here and now, for the here and now. It’s interesting how she’s become such a different person from Bay.
I do wonder how she’s going to deal with the backlash when Bay finds out about that naked photo shoot she did, wearing the brown wig….

No explanation for that point of view? I partially agree that the choice itself is suspect, but Brad/Bay has been abused and manipulated throughout the course of the entire story, by multiple people, so “deserve” to suffer? Not seeing it.

Here’s the thing: If you can transfer a person’s mind from one body to another you can also record that mind and have it exist in both bodies. This much has been said by us before and Bay confirms it’s possible here.

What she’s missing is the same holds true for the male “Brad” body. If they could grow it once from few strands of hair they could grow it again. They now have a whole male Brad body full of DNA, they can make as many copies as they need.

Bay can stay a girl as long as she wants AND let “Brad” live his life – and if/when she changes her mind and wants to be male again “Brad” can supply some cells to make a new copy for her and she (now he) can be to Brad what Berry is to Bay.

It’s still not a good option. If they had done this, copied the mind and made “Bay” and “Brad”, both would hate and resent the other…from a “Grass is always greener on the other side” perspective. “Bay” would resent “Brad” for getting the male body back, which she has spent five years wanting. “Brad” would resent “Bay” for having all the friends and loved ones, while he has no one except Mom. It looks like a good idea on paper, but paper doesn’t factor in emotions.

@ai_vin – It would be super awkward. Honey doesn’t adapt to changes on that level well, and would be really uncomfortable around Brad. While Jo would be friendly, the connection that connects her to Bay wouldn’t really be there. Remember, they bonded initially in the TG support group.

Add to this awkwardness that Bay would eventually HATE Brad…for being male, for being able to reconnect with Mom…for a lot of things, and that would sour cross friendships.

I’m just going to say I’m glad Bay gets to keep existing. My reasons are not that complex.
I am sorry for Brad, but I’ve gotten to know Bay over the course of the comic, and her bonds with the people who love her and who she loves in return.
Should Bay be erased, it’d tear a huge hole in a lot of hearts and lives. So yeah, I’m just glad she gets to live. 🙂

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